TEMPLE INSTITUTE FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE AND ENGINEERING (TIME)

Mission Statement

The mission of the Temple Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (TIME) is to initiate, support and coordinate high-impact interdisciplinary and translational research and education that will generate significant Regenerative Medicine and Engineering-related basic and translational scientific knowledge, technology, and products. At the same time, TIME will serve as a university-wide vehicle for stimulating growth and productivity of diverse collaborative research efforts amongst the various stakeholders throughout the entire Temple University Community and operate as a recognizable umbrella organization for scientific, educational and outreach connections locally, regionally, and beyond.

Welcome to the Temple Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (TIME) Website. TIME has been established as a living bridge between the Health Sciences Campus and the Main Campus. Housed in the School of Medicine, TIME focuses on Regenerative Medicine (RM) and Tissue Engineering (TE), two related concepts used to describe some of today’s most advanced and promising approaches that synergistically link Medicine and Engineering in an interdisciplinary effort to replace, repair, and restore the function of diseased tissues and organs.

Notable advances include the use of tissue engineered skin for treating burns and chronic wounds, replacement of trachea and blood vessels, repair of bone and cartilage and, most recently, successful implantation of regenerated whole organs, such as heart, lung, liver, kidney. Further progress in this rapidly moving field will require synergistic collaborations between diverse disciplines of engineering (biomedical, materials, mechanical, and chemical), basic sciences (biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and immunology) and medicine. In addition, a comprehensive approach requires the participation of individuals with expertise in bioethics, law, and business.

The recent founding of the new Department of Bioengineering in the College of Engineering (CoE) provides the unique opportunity to establish the Temple Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (TIME). Serving as a living bridge between the Health Sciences Campus and the Main Campus, TIME will be in a strategic position to provide the framework and the resources for advancing clinical need-based interdisciplinary biomedical research and product development and to translate exciting discoveries into clinical products and therapies. TIME will facilitate the seamless university-wide interaction and integration of clinicians, scientists, and engineers and thus significantly advance the standing of University as a research institution. To be distinctive and successful, we propose that the TIME will encompass four complementary pillars of excellence (RECO): Research, Education, Commercialization, and Outreach.

Conceptually, TIME started out as a virtual institute, with an office located in SoM. We are in the process of recruiting TIME members (as affiliated faculty) from participating colleges and departments on the Health Sciences Campus (Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Shriner’s, Fox Chase, Podiatry) and the Main Campus (Engineering, Liberal Arts, Science and Technology, Law, Business). TIME has begun recruiting new faculty, who will have their primary (joint) academic appointments and tenure in the appropriate home departments throughout the university. Details of the governance structure will be forthcoming. Prominent national and international leaders in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have agreed to become members of an external TIME advisory board. TIME will serve as a home for the recruitment of new students and faculty with an interest in regenerative tissue engineering and medicine, a platform for supporting the research of students and fellows, and a focal point for the development of international initiatives.

Taken together, the development of TIME will place Temple University in the forefront of national universities pursuing excellence in Regenerative Medicine and Bioengineering.